"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."
-Henry Ford

First, I do not BELIEVE you cannot be successful. I just want your attention. I do want to ask if you if YOU believe you can be successful? What is keeping you from getting there? Not the BS stuff – the real stuff. What is REALLY keeping you from living your dreams?

I am inclined to believe that most of the Morning Motivator readers are just like me – OVERWORKING and (in their minds) UNDERACHIEVING. I, in the past weeks, have come to realize that the SINGLE limiting hurdle in my ACHIEVEMENT up to this point has been … ME. I AM my own worst enemy. It has been my negative thought processes and self limiting beliefs that have prevented me from ACCOMPLISHING some things. Does this sound familiar?

Now, I won't and don't want you to beat yourself up over this realization. It is actually a WONDERFUL fact about yourself IF you are able to recognize it. Why? Simple, once you know it is there – you CAN change it. Armed with BRILLIANCE, CREATIVITY and a new outlook on the POWER of your positive mind set – you WILL accomplish your dreams. Don't believe it?

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
Try the POWER of a positive mind set accompanied with specific goals and see what GREAT accomplishments you can achieve. Set a target date for start and finish, give yourself 30 days of positive focus and effort. You MUST be committed to achievement for this to work.

If you WILL commit and FOCUS on the positive capabilities you have, you will see what happens… no need to thank me. You will have done all the work!

"Today is a great day. Know that you are favored by God. Allow yourself to receive that favor and you will."
- Pastor Joel Osteen

Do you feel DESERVING of success and advantage? Do you BELIEVE that you are ENTITLED to a life of happiness and fulfillment?

I have been listening to Pastor Joel Osteen in my truck narrate his book, Your Best Life Now, and I have found myself FEELING a sense of ENTITLEMENT in the past days. Often, we hear the saying, "you will achieve what you believe.". I wonder how many people feel DISTRAUGHT, DEFEATED or FRUSTRATED in their life position.

Why should you ACCEPT those feelings? If you come from a bad break up or a tough job spot, does that mean you will ALWAYS be subjected to that? I BELIEVE that we are capable of great things... Once we DECIDE to do them.

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
Our SELF LIMITING thoughts are the SOLE hurdle that must be overcome to BREAKTHROUGH the cycle of challenge and frustration.

You must BELIEVE you are capable of successes and VISUALIZE them prior to ever being able to take action.

To help with this, take 20 minutes and write out a detailed VISIONING statement around an area of your life. Describe with vivid words, time frames and the feelings associated with your accomplishment. Once you are ABLE to see it... You will also be able to SEE the path to get there!

"To begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment."-James Allen

The inability to ACHIEVE our goals is most commonly called a FAILURE. Everyday people "fail" to meet a goal and or achieve something they had hoped for in their mind. Every day, we take OPPORTUNITIES to grow and CHOSE whether or not we will pursue them. I am NOT a believer in FAILURE.

How many GOALS have you set forth in your life up to this point? Hundreds? Thousands? And how many of those "oh so important" goals have you allowed to fall by the waist side? Since you let so many pass by - are YOU a FAILURE?

I believe that the term GOAL is horribly overused. A GOAL is something you set for yourself based on a need for GROWTH of your mind, body or spirit. Financial "goals" (the most common of all shallow attempts to create self worth) are guidelines that help you stay the course towards a measurement of "success". To me a GOAL, shares a beginning and an end with an internal and external benefit from ACHIEVEMENT. Making a sale today is part of my job – it is not a goal. Completing a report is not a goal – it is your RESPONSIBILITY. Graduating college IS a goal.

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:Don't confuse your "GOALS" with tasks that are intended to drive someone else's agenda. Often, our boss will tell us that "the GOAL is to increase revenues by 22% this month"… why? What is the PURPOSE of that? Who made up that "goal" and what does it accomplish?

Your GOALS are based around your life vision – the things that make you HAPPY and PRODUCTIVE. Exploration, love, career, health – these are areas of emotional importance that should have GOALS set to them. Measurements of your SUCCESS (as you define it) and a gauge of your HAPPINESS moving forward.

Don't be afraid to QUESTION a "goal," if it is not your goal… it is probably not that important anyways.

"The best executive is the one who has enough sense to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Last night I sat down and had a chat with one of my Junior Chamber Board members and discussed the pressures of leadership. The discussion encompassed personal and professional leadership and what we FEEL are the appropriate mind sets to have when seeking to EXECUTE effectively.

During the chat, I shared my thoughts on my STYLE of leadership. I am one that has determined that I am not able to be the BEST at everything (although it doesn't keep me from driving myself nuts trying to be). From this, I understand I will need to RELY on trusted partners to help execute the actions I want to see implemented. I shared this thought: "I know that every day I want to ACHIEVE the most possible... that's a lot of pressure. Yet, if I engage people that are BETTER than me and get the hell out of their way... WE can achieve it all and do it faster. The KEY is me trusting you to do your job."

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
We all have a FINITE amount of resources - Mental capacity, Energy, Time, Money, Strength, etc. By seeking to ALIGN people with similar goals, you can leverage the amount of resources available to accomplish similar goals.

If you know someone is seeking to explore the opportunity of starting a business and they are GREAT at accounting (while you are not), consider a partnership of sorts. Determine the best way you can maximize your SKILL SET to match theirs and find an EASIER way to do more with less.

Once you find the right people, compliments to your strengths, ENGAGE them with a plan, take the ACTION steps needed... and get out of their way!

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."
-Johnny Cash

Typically, I pride myself on the consistency by which I EXECUTE my days. I focus on keeping commitments, over communicating and always doing the right thing even when it feels bad. Occasionally, we all FAIL.

Yesterday, I was committed to running a triathlon with one of my best friends. He TRAINED hard and was very much prepared for the event. I FAILED ever really commit to training or mental to any preparation. He was super EXCITED to push himself and test his FOCUS in this new event. I was weighed down by the FEAR of failure and injury from ill preparedness.

I, admittedly, am not a PERFECT person and do FAIL. Yesterday, I FAILED to compete. I allowed FEAR and EMBARRASSMENT to overtake myself. I did not run, I did not attempt to compete and I failed my friend that I had committed to participating with.

2 DEGREE SUCCESS STEP:
I SHARE this today to help YOU understand that FAILURE starts when you do not COMMIT yourself to the actions you plan for. FAILURE is not a moment in time, it's a culmination of decisions you made over days, weeks, months or even years. In this case, my FAILURE began the day after I signed up for the event and did not begin training.

The KEY to overcoming these failures is to COMMIT to excellence, SCHEDULE time for development and MEASURE your progress. When you are able to see the fruits of your labor, you will KEEP motivation and find the ease of SUCCESS!